U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) speaks to reporters Saturday after addressing the annual meeting of the Kentucky Farm Bureau Federation at the Galt House in Louisville.
(Photo:
Mark Vanderhoff
)

Despite record agricultural sales this year, Kentucky’s farmers and others in the state are being hurt by the Obama administration’s policies, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell said Saturday at the annual meeting of the Kentucky Farm Bureau Federation.

Speaking to hundreds of farmers, insurance representatives and agricultural policy experts gathered at the Galt House, McConnell spoke on a wide range of issues, from the U.S. farm bill to guest worker programs to the tobacco buyout program, condemning the Democrats’ and President Barack Obama’s handling of each one.

Kentucky’s farmers are expected to record $6 billion in profits in 2013 and at least that much in 2014, University of Kentucky agricultural economists told the farm bureau Thursday.

“I congratulate you on that point, but have to make a point that a lot of others aren’t doing so well,” McConnell said.

McConnell blamed the slow economic recovery on administration policies that are high in debt and heavy on administrative regulations.

Eighty percent of the U.S. farm bill, for example, now consists of food stamps, he said, referring to the former name of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

“The problem is the farm bill has become a food stamp bill,” he said.

House Republicans negotiating with Senate Democrats on a U.S. farm bill compromise will push for less of an emphasis on nutrition programs and more support for agricultural production, McConnell said.

McConnell voiced his support for the H2-A guest worker program, which grants temporary visas to agricultural workers from out of the country.

Farmers hoped the program would be expanded, but McConnell said those efforts were derailed by the Democrats’ insistence on a comprehensive immigration reform bill that included the so-called “path to citizenship” for illegal immigrants to become legal citizens, which he called an “all or nothing approach.” Republicans would prefer to vote on each aspect of immigration reform separately, he said.

McConnell also said he believed tobacco buyout payments, which will end in 2015, will be paid in full, despite a recent announcement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that the 2014 payments may be reduced because of budget cuts mandated by federal sequestration.

Funds for the tobacco buyout program come from assessments on tobacco product manufacturers and imports, not federal income tax, so McConnell predicted any cuts in 2014 would be paid later in 2015 with that year’s regular payments.

Reporter Mark Vanderhoff can be reached at (502) 582-4252 or @MarkVanderhoff on Twitter.